Hard to believe, but articles are popping up at business websites claiming that venerable Hewlett-Packard may fail. In their most recent fiasco, HP wrote off a loss of $8.8 of their $11.1 US billion acquisition of Autonomy and have alleged fraud in the deal. Revenue is down 7% from a year ago and the stock has hit a 10-year low. The company is laying off 27K employees but that may not be enough. Some speculate HP might be broken up into parts with buy-outs involved. This article from last May offers a good in-depth analysis of how all these problems came to pass.

I agree, there are only two reasons to use the WiFi option on a printer: Either you need to place the printer in an area that is impractical to run a hard line to, or you have a curious need to boast "Look y'all, I've got a wireless printer WOOO!"

You'd think I was making up the second reason, but sadly I've sold more than one WiFi printer at work based on a customer's inexplicable need to have every device in their house "wireless", even though after some questions it's revealed that they have a home or office prewired for gigabit Ethernet, right down to the gig-E router.

WiFi printers enable you to have one printer for the whole house while having several computers and laptops in different rooms. (used by different people)

Eh... so does an Ethernet-connected printer, and even one connected with USB if you set up a network share on the host computer or (better yet) just connect it directly to your router... and it does so much more reliably...

As an HP printer owner that uses it only in WiFi mode let me tell you this: the weak point of these printers are the drivers.

I'm confused. Was your response directed at me, or the original poster? Because I already stated that Wi-Fi drivers, in general, are crap...

Of course, I'll probably continue to get modded down for stating the facts, but--well, I guess the truth hurts some people. I'm not saying to drop all wireless connections... hell, I use Wi-Fi all the time on my phone (beats the hell out of cellular Internet, and my phone--shockingly--does seem to have solid Wi-Fi drivers). I'm just saying to drop Wi-Fi where it makes sense (ie. buggy drivers or where availability is important; in other words, peripherals like *gasp* printers and scanners).

Of course, I'll probably continue to get modded down for stating the facts, but--well, I guess the truth hurts some people ... I'm just saying to drop Wi-Fi where it makes sense (ie. buggy drivers or where availability is important; in other words, peripherals like *gasp* printers and scanners).

I have an HP wireless printer shared by two linux boxes. The fact is this printer works flawlessly. The fact is it was very easy and fast to setup. The fact is, if ever I should by another printer, Wi-Fi will be a must have feature. But these are my facts, and facts, strangely enough, are too volatile; and computer facts are specially subjective.